As part of the GRDC-funded More Profit from Crop Nutrition II initiative (MPCN), BCG is leading the extension and training component in the southern region of Australia.
The MPCN is a national initiative that includes 24 projects across Australia focusing on empowering growers and advisors with the knowledge, skill and tools required to maximise their return on investment into crop nutrition.
Concluding in June 2017, BCG’s role in the initiative has focused on making growers and advisors better equipped to maximise the return from their fertiliser budgets.
The BCG team coordinates information from a range of sources including nutrition specialists and the suite of the MPCN projects being carried out across the country, to deliver events relevant to growers in the southern region.
Over the last five years BCG has delivered over 20 MPCN workshops, provided 22 speakers at field days, written and coordinated numerous case studies, produced information clips and articles and participated in many industry meetings all across Victoria, South Australia and southern parts of New South Wales.
Each MPCN workshop was designed with local input to meet the specific needs of farmers in that region and featured relevant presenters including crop nutrition researchers, agronomists and leading farmers.
With fertiliser applications commonly representing the largest single variable expense for grain growers (13 per cent of total costs in 2010-11; ABARES 2011) and crop nutrition being a major determinant of profit, the project has worked towards improving the return on investment from fertiliser inputs by improving the nutrient use efficiency of crops, improving the capacity of soils to supply nutrients and reducing the soils propensity to lose or lock-up nutrients.
Over 700 grain growers have been directly reached via workshops and associated extension materials generated as part of this project which have helped to deliver the knowledge and skills needed to determine whether current nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium application practices are efficient and meet best management practice.
